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Writing 101

Creating the
Complete Writing Plan -
7W1H

Learning Objectives

To capture all the key ideas of a story in the
pre-writing stage.

To visualise the story before writing starts.

Introduction

Some of the problems students face when
writing compositions include:
1) no idea to develop story
2) don’t know how to start
3) started but stuck half-way
4) essay completed but it felt incomplete
If you face these problems, you are not alone!
With great planning, these problems can be
avoided.

Fail to plan and plan to fail

The importance of planning for your story first
before you tell it cannot be overstated.

Having a great plan is like having a complete
map. You are clear about reaching your
destination – its beginning, the journey as well
as its end.

Fail to plan and plan to fail
7 wives 1 husband or 7W1H plan helps you to think
about all the key ideas in your story. 7W1H
shows:
Who – Orientation, Char.'s Appearance & Weakness
Where – Orientation, Specific locations
When – Orientation, Time of the day and year
What happened – Problem/Creative Action Start
What next – Escalation, Characters' reactions
What worst – Climax, conflict at its worst
Why – Reason it happened
How – Twist at the end

Benefits of 7W1H plan
The key benefits of a 7W1H are:
1) AWAUTC is used to boost your marks in
content.
2) Bell Curve's elements are included for a
complete story.
3) Your confidence is built as you can visualise
how the story will be like.
4) You can make easy changes with the plan.
5) You can focus better on story-tellingwhen you
write as all ideas have been thought through.
Let's examine how it will work.

7W1H in action (Part 1)
Who – Alex, striped shirt, mischievous-looking, likes
to play pranks, sister Alice & blind busker
When – after a long day out shopping, mum
fetching Alex and sister, Alice, back home.
Where – subway towards Boon Kong MRT station
What – Alex was stealing a few coins from the
blind busker. “Watch me in action,” Alex said.
What next – A little girl walked past, caught Alex
red-handed. “What are you doing?!”
What worst – A policeman's attention was caught.
He was previously checking up on the identity of a
rowdy group of teenagers.

Why it happened – Alex accepted a dare from
Alice, that if he could pull it off, Alice would
give him her share of computer time back home.
How it ended – Alex was quick-witted. “Uncle,
your coins are all over the place, here you are...”
Police and blind busker praised him. Busker
awarded him two one-dollar coins as reward.
“You are a kind-hearted boy, God Bless.” With
a cheeky smile, he returned to his sister, who
readily admitted to losing the bet. That was fun,
he thought, but stupid. He could have been
caught.

Who – Mary Tan, dressed in her best clothes for a
sales presentation, ill-disciplined.
When – heavy downpour, severe thunderstorm
Where – in a bus-stop near her home.
What – Side-stepped a puddle of water splashed in
her direction by a passing car
What next – Caught a glance at her watch.
“What?” She was shocked by the time.
What worst – Another car came along, and this
time, it caught her unawares and a puddle of water
splashed onto her, drenching her from head to toe.

Why it happened – Having a night out with her
friends before, had slept in late.
How it ended – The man stopped the car,
apologising profusely. Upon closer look, it was
her customer, Mr Tan, whom she was meeting.
He drove her home to change. Embarrassed.
Vowed never to go on a late night the day before
an important meeting again.

Discussion
1) State the 7W1H plan.
2) List 2 key benefits of 7W1H plan.
3) Describe how 7W1H has helped you personally
in your essay-writing.

In summary

The 7W1H plan key points are:
Who, where, when, what happened, what next,
what worst, why it happened and how it ended.

It can help us visualise our story and keep us
focused and speedy during writing stage as all
key ideas have been thought through already.

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LL Upper Primary 5A - 7W1H

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LL Upper Primary 5A - 7W1H